Hospital shooting, election fraud debate, keno top stories
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A man accused of fatally shooting his mother in New Hampshire’s largest hospital, debate over election fraud and allowing communities to vote on keno to raise money for full-day kindergarten topped state headlines in 2017.
Others include a woman convicted of multiple animal cruelty charges after 84 Great Danes were seized from her home, and whistleblower accusations of patient neglect and substandard care at the state’s veterans hospital.
A look at the state’s top stories of 2017:
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CRIME AND COURTS
—Travis Frink was charged with fatally shooting his mother, Pamela Ferriere, at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, where she was a patient. The hospital went under lockdown. Frink pleaded not guilty to murder.
—The family of Nathan Carman, suspected in the slaying of his millionaire grandfather in Connecticut, filed a lawsuit i n New Hampshire accusing him of killing his grandfather and possibly his mother, who was lost at sea during a fishing trip, in a bid to collect an inheritance. Carman said he had nothing to do with either case.
—Pauline Chase and her son, Maurice Temple, were accused of a failed murder-for-hire plot involving his ex-wife in Plainfield. A judge ruled that Chase isn’t competent and Temple was acquitted.
—Christina Fay plans to appeal her multiple animal cruelty convictions after 84 Great Danes were seized from her Wolfeboro home.
—Authorities remain tight-lipped about allegations that several teens taunted a 9-year-old biracial boy in Claremont and pushed him off a picnic table with a rope around his neck.
—Police confirmed that Terry Peder Rasmussen was the man suspected of killing six women and children while using numerous names in multiple states.
—The New Hampshire Motor Speedway loses a major race and seeks to replace it with a music festival, but neighbors go to court to block it.
—St. Paul’s School and Phillips Exeter Academy investigations detailed sexual misconduct allegations against faculty and staff going back decades.
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VOTER FRAUD, ELECTIONS
—New Hampshire enacted a new law requiring voters who move to the state within 30 days of an election to provide proof that they intend to stay. But the New Hampshire Democratic Party and the League of Women voters sued, saying the law was confusing, unnecessary and intimidating.
—Secretary of State Bill Gardner joined President Donald Trump’s commission investigating voter fraud. Trump has cited New Hampshire as part of his unsubstantiated claims that millions of people voted illegally in 2016.
—Voters in seven New Hampshire cities approved the electronic bingo game keno. Officials expect to bring in up to $5 million in its first year.
—There’s a crowded candidate field to succeed Democratic U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, who’s stepping down after her term in 2018.
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HEALTH
—The Veterans Administration is working on improving care at New Hampshire’s only veterans’ hospital since a Boston Globe report highlighted allegations of substandard conditions and treatment. Whistleblowers described a fly-infested operating room, surgical instruments that weren’t always sterilized and ignored patients. Three officials at the hospital were removed and an investigation began.
—Efforts have grown to target opioid misuse and find more money to help law enforcement and treatment in New Hampshire. A new synthetic drug, carfentanil, powerful enough to tranquilize elephants, also surfaced.
—Health officials worked to determine PFOA exposure rates to residents near a plastics plant and Pease International Tradeport.
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OUTDOORS/WEATHER
—State emergency management officials say New Hampshire suffered millions in damage damages from an October storm that affected roads and bridges, left hundreds of thousands without power and flooded rivers. A nor’easter coinciding with New Hampshire town elections in March affected 80 communities, and created confusion about rescheduling.
—A hunter in Canada killed one of three young bears that were relocated to northern New Hampshire after Gov. Chris Sununu stepped in to save them.